Gaza Death Toll Soars as Israel Intensifies Bombing

Israeli soldiers drive a tank to a position near Israel Gaza Border, Thursday, July 10, 2014. With rockets raining deep inside Israel, the military pummeled Palestinian targets Wednesday across the Gaza Strip and threatened a broad ground offensive, while the first diplomatic efforts to end two days of heavy fighting got underway. (AP: Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Israel's assault on the people of Gaza "dramatically escalated" overnight as hundreds of missiles bombed the civilian population living in the walled-off territory.

According to the Ma'an new agency's latest reporting, the airstrikes "killed 30 Palestinians overnight Wednesday and Thursday, including a family of eight, bringing the total death toll [this week] to 81."

Updating their tracking of the number of children killed during the assault, Defense of Children International-Palestine reports on Thursday that a "total of 14 Palestinian children, including four toddlers, have died in airstrikes since Israel launched a major military offensive on the Gaza Strip Tuesday."

Israeli officials, however, indicated the assault was "going according to plan" and would continue.

"The military's successes so far have been very significant," said Israel's Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon on Thursday. "We will continue until [people living in Gaza] understand that this escalation is not beneficial to them and that we will not tolerate rocket fire toward our towns and citizens."

Critics of Israel's widescale assault—which is using warplanes, naval ships, aerial drones, and ground forces lined up on the border—say the operation, like others before it, is clearly disproportionate.

Mohammad Momani, a spokesperson for the government of Jordan—which maintains a peace agreement with Israel—described the behavior of the Israeli military as "barbaric aggression" that would have "negative repercussions on the Gaza Strip and the whole region."

Momani condemned "the military aggression that Israel has launched in the Gaza Strip" and said Jordan is calling for "its immediate halt."

Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, ahead of an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Thursday warned that "Gaza is on a knife edge."

"The deteriorating situation is leading to a downward spiral which could quickly get beyond anyone's control," he continued. "The risk of violence expanding further still is real. Gaza, and the region as a whole, cannot afford another full-blown war."

Developments about the ongoing attack on Gaza are trending on Twitter under the hashtag #GazaUnderAttack (Warning: some images in this feed may be graphic):

Further

Surrounded by a massive police presence, the country's top law enforcement official told a group of carefully screened students at Georgetown's Law School that, "In this great land, the government does not tell you what to think or what to say." In his speech, only announced the day before, Sessions went on to denounce uppity knee-taking football players and defend his boss' call, hours before, for them to be fired. We may need to upgrade the ole Irony Alert buzzer. It can't keep up.